Follow: Your Lifelong Adventure with Jesus

by Katie Prejean McGrady

Overview

Winner of a 2019 Association of Catholic Publishers Award: Teen Books (First Place).


How well do you know Jesus? Like, REALLY know him?

Catholic author and speaker Katie Prejean McGrady shares sometimes embarrassing, often humorous, and always inspiring stories about how she came to know and love Jesus and how you can, too, through prayer, scripture, sacraments, and service.

In the summer of 2016, Katie Prejean McGrady walked off the stage feeling great about a forty-five-minute talk she had just given, when a young man from the audience stopped her for advice. His questions caught her completely off guard.

“Who is Jesus?”
“How can I get to know him?”

Prejean McGrady—who speaks to tens of thousands of Catholic teens and young adults a year about her passion for Jesus—couldn’t give the guy a straightforward answer. And it bugged her. Bigtime.

In Follow, she uses engaging, sometimes awkward, and frequently funny stories from her own life to show you four simple and practical steps to get to know Jesus and have life-changing friendship with him:

• Prayer (lift your heart)—She helps you understand that prayer is just talking to God and gives you the tools to start.
• Scripture (open your ears)—Prejean McGrady introduces you to an easier way to start reading the Bible.
• Sacraments (receive God’s grace)—She encourages you to see the sacraments as spiritual fuel for your relationship with Jesus.
• Service (share the gift)—She will nudge you beyond your comfort zone in the Church’s common mission to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

Prejean McGrady will help you open your heart and mind to meeting Jesus in a personal way and challenge you to see him for who he really is.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594718243
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	03/30/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Katie Prejean McGrady is the host of the Ave Explores podcast and The Katie McGrady Show on Sirius XM’s The Catholic Channel. She is an international speaker, the author of Room 24 and Follow, and the coauthor of Lent: One Day at a Time for Catholic Teens and Advent and Christmas: One Day at a Time for Catholic Teens.

Prejean McGrady also serves as the host of the Like a Mother podcast and contributes Family Mass Prep on the Hallow app. Her work appears in LaCroix International, Blessed Is She, Our Sunday Visitor, and Aleteia. She also is a commentator on Catholic issues for CNN and NewsNation. Prejean McGrady speaks at a variety of events including NCYC, Steubenville Youth Conferences, the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, and in dioceses and parishes throughout the world.

Prejean McGrady earned a theology degree from the University of Dallas. She lives in Louisiana with her family.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 Lift Your Heart 1

2 Open Your Ears 33

3 Receive His Grace 75

4 Share the Gift 113

Afterword 133

Acknowledgments 141

Editorial Reviews

"This book is moving, challenging, and inspiring. Katie Prejean McGrady always finds a way to get you nodding along with her and she is always authentic. While modern culture is often lacking in common sense, this book is a wonderful invitation back to sensible thought and prayer. We are lucky to have Katie as a teacher and will richly benefit from her wisdom here. Follow is a gift to all who want a relationship with Jesus but just don't know exactly where to start." —Mark Hart, Executive Vice President, Life Teen

"A masterful blend of heartfelt testimony, impactful insights from the life of Christ, and practical ways to walk as a disciple." —Joel Stepanek, Director of Resource Development, Life Teen

"Katie Prejean McGrady offers practical wisdom and solid steps for developing and living out the most important relationship for which each one of us has been made." —Rev. Mike Schmitz, Director of the Office of Youth Ministry, Diocese of Duluth

"Follow will inspire and teach you and help you find Jesus. Read it, absorb it, and share it with others as you embark on your lifelong adventure with Jesus!" —Christina Lamas, Executive Director, National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry

"How does someone follow Jesus in our world today? Katie Prejean McGrady has given us a true gift—a practical, authentic, and intensely personal account of what it means to follow Jesus through prayer, scripture, service, sacraments, adoration, and evangelization. Katie takes your hand and leads you to Jesus. What a well-written, spot-on, and helpful book that is greatly needed for young Catholics finding their way today!" —Sarah Swafford, Author of Emotional Virtue

"Follow isn't just a book to read, it's a book to do. Katie Prejean McGrady is the Ms. Frizzle of Catholicism, walking teens through the most foundational ways that their Catholic faith invites them to take chances, avoid mistakes, and get messy in their pursuit of Christ. The book needs no prerequisites, offering an introduction to prayer, scripture, sacraments, and service that will both encourage and inspire a seasoned follower while not overwhelming new disciples." —Alison Blanchet , Youth and Campus Minister, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church and School, Panama City, Florida

"Knowing and following Jesus is often confusing and frustrating, especially for youth. Katie Prejean McGrady combines theological substance, relevant personal witness, plenty of humor, insight, practical suggestions, and step by step sequences to help teens know, love, and serve Jesus. She has produced an accessible field manual for living as a Catholic teen today. This will be a book teens visit and revisit time and again, as a source of comfort, direction, and inspiration." —Roy Petitfils, Counselor, author, and speaker

"I would probably be the pope by now if someone had shared this book with me when I was a teen! Understanding who Jesus is may seem difficult and distant, but Katie Prejean McGrady provides a clear roadmap to Christ. Follow unpacks practices for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the very best ways for a twenty-first-century Christian. Whether your journey is just beginning or has been going on for years, Katie’s stories and suggestions will lead you straight to Jesus." —Bill Staley, Director of youth and young adult ministry, Diocese of Nashville

From the Publisher